Songs Celebrate Tradition

Memories of home for the holidays

House-to-house Caroling, Three Kings Day Stir Memories.

December 19, 1998|By Keilani Best of The Sentinel Staff

Christmas season is full of traditions for Puerto Ricans and other Central Florida Hispanics.

Some customs, such as trips to church and rich holiday meals, are not that unusual. Others are unique - such as caravans of troubadours that go from house to house waking friends for an all-night affair of food, music and merrymaking.

Christmas reveling, or Parranda Navidena, involves singers and dancers on a trek to entertain. The group may become so large that the revelers have to stay outside for their song and dance.

``We go from house to house, and then we start singing outside, telling the residents of the house that we want you to wake up and celebrate Christmas,'' said Monserrate Vargas, secretary of the board of directors of Centro de Cultura Puertorriquena de la Florida. Club members want to keep Puerto Rican traditions alive. ``We want to give you happiness for the New Year, and we are here with a lot of friends. Then we eat breakfast at the last house.''

Vargas and other Hispanics in the area started going on revels last weekend. Some of the entertainment was provided by singers throughout Central Florida, including a group from Saint Catherine of Sienna Church in Kissimmee. Every Christmas, the trovadores or troubadours sing traditional Puerto Rican holiday tunes. They make a competition out of it.

``Anyone from the audience can say to the trovadores, `I want you to start singing about a certain topic.' Then they compose a song in about a minute, and it has to sound good. They all sing the same sentence,'' Vargas said. ``They are singing off the top of their heads. This is difficult, but they are experts in it.''

Catholics can participate in pre-Christmas Masses where many Puerto Ricans celebrate the birth of Jesus through music and singing.

There is the nochebuena, or Christmas meal, which is eaten on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. Traditional food such as roast pork, rice pudding and other treats are served.

For traditionalists, the culmination is Three Kings Day or Epiphany, which is celebrated on Jan. 6. The holiday observes the visit of the Three Kings bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh to baby Jesus.

Before going to bed the night before, children put hay for the kings' camels or horses in shoe boxes and tuck the boxes under their beds. The next morning, children wake to find gifts left by the Three Kings.

Virgilio Colon has fond mem- ories of the holiday.

``In Puerto Rico, that's the biggest day,'' he said. ``Especially in the countryside.''

As Puerto Rico changes, so do celebrations of the holidays.

Years ago, celebrations were so intense they lasted until February. No more.

Some Puerto Ricans remind their children of the country's Christmas traditions. Others left traditions when they moved to Central Florida.

Hector Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, said Christmas is the big family celebration.

``Only Santa Claus,'' he said. ``In Puerto Rico, they do it, but I just celebrate Santa Claus because my kids were born here.''

Even so, many Hispanics leave their Christmas lights up past Jan. 6 in reverence for Three Kings Day.